PLAYLIST with COMMENTS/REVIEWS

[k.p.g]

Taint - Piece-Meal Dissection (Reanimated Miscarriage, reissue)
At $9 USD, this reissue is simply too good for you to pass up.  Reanimated Miscarriage knocked it out the park as far as packaging goes.  Multiple layers of piece-meal dissection lead you to this gross cassette.  Having packaged razorblades with cassettes before, never have I thought to tie 2 razorblades to both sides of the physical tape before.  So much anxiety went into trying to remove those without slicing my finger.  Crisis averted - let's play this.

I've always been under the impression that while Taint has had its fair share of great stuff, Mania was the Keith Brewer project for me.  It felt more mature, more realized, etc.  This release proves I am wrong, and that Keith had his vision set out from the get-go.  This sounds like a mutated synth bubbling over the edge with samples galore.  Some sound like broken spirits crying for help; others are the obvious fuck n suck show sounds.  Scrap metal continues to grow throughout each track on top of this.  By description alone, you might be thinking something chaotic, but it is surprisingly disciplined in its restraint!

It will be hard to find any better reissue this year.

[Tribe Tapes]

Private Collector K7 [2025, Not On Label]
Longform tapestry of (to my ears) processed field recs tapes and electronics. At its sparser moments it touches on an uncanny valley type of feeling, vague mouth sounds emanating over what could be either a synthesizer or just as likely churning water. When harsher it teeters on the verge of collapse.

[k.p.g]

Kyle Flanagan - Purely Psychedelic (self-released)
I cannot believe it is already 5 years since the first tape in this series came out.  Wow.  Ugh.  Here I am; so young, yet feeling so fucking old.  But you know what isn't old?  This tape.  It still stands the test of time.  I told myself this morning "I want a mellow tape to get in the zone to.  Where do I find that?"  This wasn't what I expected to pull out, and I actually did not recognize this as being the first volume in the Purely Psychedelic series. 

Sound wise, it takes its time to evolve.  Synth crawls creep at a glacial pace, with the occasional variation coming in every so often.  Similar to a record like Coil's Time Machines, this tape can present changes you won't really notice until they are already there.  For as much action as I find myself making in my own noise works, it is nice to put the breaks on and hear something that reminds you of the power that a slower pace can bring.  As far as I am concerned, very few do that better than Kyle.  Now I am curious to revisit the rest of these.  I know that he has plans to release a Volume 9 to the series, so this could be a great pregame.

[Zeno Marx]

Private Collector K7 [2025, Not On Label]

a lesson in how to not be searchable

[k.p.g]

Toshiji Mikawa - Radio Code (AQM)

I let it out in the open of the WCN Discord, so I might as well say it here; Incapacitants largely bores me as a whole.  Solo works of Mikawa under this name have been great, and Fumio's solo work is a truly underrated treat of the era it hails from.  When those two link up, I feel no sparks.  I was explaining this to a friend, who ended up linking me this release of a performance on John Duncan's old radio show by Mr. Mikawa.\

While it does not change my stance on Incapacitants, it makes me have far more respect for the power of Mr. Mikawa to make noise.  Side A is an exercise in crude noise power that does not relent throughout its runtime.  Currently on Side B now though, and loving it far more than A.  Weird as fuck loop work mixes up with some blown out noise sounds in stereo.  Can't beat something like this.  Lovely.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Solo works of Mikawa under this name have been great

His latest solo album, Encounter When Pigs Fly, is excellent. Not sure if you've heard it yet:

https://grubenwehrfreiburg.bandcamp.com/album/encounter-when-pigs-fly

Jungle noises and high frequencies. Tapestry of sounds and moments of pure power. It kind of sounds like Mikawa doing David Tudor's Rainforest, but 1000% harsher.

[k.p.g]

Merzbow & Total - Merzbow Mixed Total (Sterilized Decay)
Another spin of this tape, and it is still a kickass time.  Flies by quick too.  Despite being a 50-minute rager, doesn't feel like that much time is spent at all.

Pastor Issac Virmes - Get Right with God (Reanimated Miscarriage)
I have to hand it to Colton; his commitment to the bit is unmatched.  For those who may not be on Instagram or whatever, Pastor Issac Virmes is blowing up over there for the fact that the sound system he has for his Sunday sermons basically sounds like "Masonna in a can."  These videos are sensational, and of course have garnered the attention of the terminally online with various memes and even an awful album cover for the latest Psywarfare release.  That stuff is all dumb.  What Reanimated Miscarriage has done here is great though.  He has taken the sermons and dubbed them onto tape.  Blown-out, crappy iPhone recordings of preacher Masonna running through tape?  Well here we go, we got something! 
This recording is actually well worth the purchase, and will have you moving your head throughout.  It reminded me that all things considered, men of God do know how to structure a service.  There is a clear rhythmic pattern to the Pastor's delivery here, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't infectious in its intensity. 

[Bloated Slutbag]

Toshiji Mikawa - Radio Code (AQM)

I let it out in the open of the WCN Discord, so I might as well say it here; Incapacitants largely bores me as a whole.  Solo works of Mikawa under this name have been great, and Fumio's solo work is a truly underrated treat of the era it hails from.  When those two link up, I feel no sparks.  I was explaining this to a friend, who ended up linking me this release of a performance on John Duncan's old radio show by Mr. Mikawa.

Interesting comment and methinks consistent with prevailing sentiment back when I first started interacting with folk in the noise sphere (circa mid 90s). While you'd have been hard pressed to go three posts deep without tripping over Merz-this and Merz-that, true Incaps believers were relatively scarce. More often would be encountered sentiments as nicely and not infrequently summed up by Mr Tim/Stimbox, re- "It just sounds like they're turning on a machine". I'd be curious to guess the trajectory of Incaps as noise superheroes in the popular zeitgeist, but it would not surprise me to learn that chaps like The Rita had helped the mythology along.

Somewhat tangential and covered earlier, but 

Keep in mind, too, that the material is already otherwise released, under the guise of Incapacitants. (Which we have learned more recently via the good graces of the Pariah Tapes boxset). Properly said: Radio Code (1988) is Incapacitants Pallo 1 (1985), tape the 1st on the Project Pallo '85 set, with Side A repping "Jaapsoc" and Side B "Leprosy" and "Manic-Depressive". Such pearls are in fact dropped by good man J Duncan hisself on the radio broadcast in question. So why even bother? Good question.

Tangential as this would not negate k.p.g's core thesis, re- the superiority of Mikawa & Kosakai's respective solo endeavours over Incaps proper. Needless to say, anyone subscribing to this thesis would be remiss in not immediately snagging the abovementioned Pariah Tapes box.

But perhaps too for the soddly self to suggest such subscribers seek out No Progress as this largely consists of (methinks superior) T. Mikawa revisits of Pariah Tapes era works, from the opener—a revisit of Long Awaited, from Pallo 3—on through.

This here does though beg the question: not counting the live tracks (which admittedly make up the bulk of the output in more recent years), at what point is Incaps to be fully severed from Mikawa solo? A toughie.

[Zeno Marx]

Speaking of Incapacitants, I've been digging around the Japanese psych scene, and I ran into this one.  I had a little bit of a Merzbow/Christoph Heemann - Sleeper Awakes On The Edge Of The Abyss (1993) moment with it.  It was not what I was expecting.  Checking, and remembering, Fumio's group history, maybe I shouldn't have been though.  The onslaught was not had.

Kosakai Fumio & Takahashi Ikuro - ...Of Dogstarman (1998)

https://www.discogs.com/release/642692-Kosakai-Fumio-Takahashi-Ikuro-Of-Dogstarman

[k.p.g]

Jessica Rylan - Flight to the Ivory Tower/Total Confusion Recreation (Heavy Tapes)
One of the final few releases from Rylan to come out before her exit from noise entirely.  There is always an intimate quality to her work that I resonate with, and this tape is no different.  It is not so much a noisy affair, as much as it is synths mutating and convulsing onto tape.  Some moments are so quiet that I thought there was no dub on the tape.  I was about to be so pissed looking for a way to dub this 20 year old Side B.
What I get from this release is the sound of a person in contemplation, wondering where life may take her next.  It seems as if noise had become tired for Jessica at this point, and she wanted to explore other avenues of her life.  Sounds on this release sound like this desire starting to bubble to the surface.  This may be the last sounds these old synths make before being shut off for good.  It is quite pleasant.

Kam Hassah - Le Origini Dell' Idoltaria (Hanson Records)
I heard this tape in a friend's car a few years ago and thought "well damn, I really need my own copy."  It just took 4 years to arrive in my hands.  Great tape creep from this Italian project.  Sounds broken as all hell.  Cover also appears to be broken as all hell too.  I wonder what was going on with Dilloway's printer at this time, as you have to squint pretty hard on this veeeeery dark green paper to make out any of the veeeeeery dark green text or art.  Digital upload of this art looks 10x better.  Come to think of it... My Darksmith tape from this era of Hanson also suffers from this issue...  Must have been a tough year for printers.

[k.p.g]

Needle Exchange - Kill 'Em All with Fentanyl (Reanimated Miscarriage)
I swore June would be my "metal month."  However, that is really not the case anymore.  Started with some before the untimely passing of Brian Wilson, and I took a sharp turn into Beach Boys.  That's been nice... but the urge for blast beats is boiling under the surface.  I have been eyeing the Blast Addict website for some potential purchases next paycheck.  Reanimated Miscarriage will be dropping 20+ new tapes next month...  Good time to pick up where I left off.

While it may lack riffs, this brand of noisecore is pretty fuckin' METAL.  It is relentless in its assault, completely blown out and pissed off.  Many can try this style, but so few can succeed like this project does.

[moozz]

Needle Exchange - Kill 'Em All with Fentanyl (Reanimated Miscarriage)
While it may lack riffs, this brand of noisecore is pretty fuckin' METAL.  It is relentless in its assault, completely blown out and pissed off.  Many can try this style, but so few can succeed like this project does.

One of my fave noisecore releases! Music is great but the editing really pushes it over the top. It's such a nonstop rush of eruptions that it is hard not to like.

[k.p.g]

Needle Exchange - Kill 'Em All with Fentanyl (Reanimated Miscarriage)
While it may lack riffs, this brand of noisecore is pretty fuckin' METAL.  It is relentless in its assault, completely blown out and pissed off.  Many can try this style, but so few can succeed like this project does.

One of my fave noisecore releases! Music is great but the editing really pushes it over the top. It's such a nonstop rush of eruptions that it is hard not to like.

Heavily agree! I ended up listening to the rest of their discography, and the editing has to be the highlight.  How it rides that fine line between pure harsh noise and crap noisecore... fantastic!

[Tribe Tapes]

Kazumoto Endo / Crack Fierce 7" [1998, United Syndicate]
Endo's track starts full-throttle (scum) before spacing out its concussive blows (buzz). And the Crack Fierce contribution is centered around feedback whirring and rough junk clamoring. Though I usually favor Crack Fierce I admit that on this release Endo is victorious

Squirmbo - A Date With Karin Greenlee 7" [1992, Stomach Ache Records]
Great release. Turntable harsh as a prelude to disjointed and collaged music stylings. Plunderphonic in method but lacking the overt goofiness of the genre (despite, the overtly goofy project and release name) Instead it trudges through cryptic zones wherein the familiar becomes the strange and Greenlee's strange is immense

[k.p.g]

The Greh Wolfs - Poetry & Blood (Stomach Ache Records)
Looks like this was the final release on the label, according to Discogs.  This is a trio consisting of Greh Holger, Aaron Dilloway & Nate Young.  The mix of sounds here seems to be tape loop and contact mic abuse.  While taking a second to lock in, it really zones you out once it does.  There are some vocals at the beginning but do not add much to my enjoyment of this one.  Nowhere near the heights that these three have reached in other projects, but a fun 7" to have exist.

Various Artists - Never Fear the Unfearable (Starlight Furniture Co./Bananafish Magazine)
Zines and their companion piece recordings have never been a thing that struck me as "essential."  Why is that though?  I think it has to do with 2 factors:

1. My experience with this presentation of a record has mostly come from the shitty lathe cuts that the likes of Decibel Magazine offer to their fans.. yuck.
2. There is an implication that in order to full enjoy the record, you need the publication it came with.

The second one is really what has done it in for me with some compilations.  I have a few issues of Night Science that come with the discs, but never feel compelled to pop the disc in because maybe I don't want to read the zine in that exact moment.  It feels silly typing all this out now as I listen to this 7" though, as it has a pretty compelling lineup of artists that are mostly unknown to me.
Standouts for this one are the tracks from Gate & Harry Pussy, although no one here slouches in the slightest.